Wildflower meadows

Beautiful wildflowers create a sea of colour

Early summer will see wildflower meadows awash with colour and literally buzzing with life. The wealth of flowers provide an important habitat for bees and other insects, which in turn are an important source of food for birds and small mammals.

Anglesey Abbey
There are around 30 acres of wildflower meadows at Anglesey Abbey with a full range of typical wildflowers such as Yellow Rattle, Ox eye Daisy, Knapweed, Cats-ear, Ladies Bedstraw and the occasional Bee Orchid, Common Spotted Orchid and sometimes the Pyramidal Orchid can be found. Look out too for the fairly rare Adders Tongue Fern.

Ickworth
In June there are a huge amount of wildflowers in the meadow to the front of the Rotunda. But we'd recommend walking down to the walled garden to see the seasonal meadow too, which was started last year and provides about three acres of wonderful colour. The mix used contains all the colours of the rainbow, which is quite a sight.

Blickling
In the wilderness areas at Blickling, there is something called ‘bulb grass’. The gardening team allow the grass to grow up around the daffodils and bluebells so that when they finally go over, the grass surrounds them and they can die down naturally. We then cut this grass once a year in September; giving any wildflowers the chance to set seed and slowly establish.

Oxburgh
There is a ‘man-made’ flower meadow in the orchard at Oxburgh, but venture a little beyond that and you'll come to the Washpit meadow, which was originally part of a wider fen landscape and natural wetland wildflower habitat. Here you'll find Southern Marsh Orchids, which will flower in June, possibly early July, depending on the weather.